Will writing, LPAs and probate in Paddock Wood
Personal, professional estate planning across Paddock Wood and the surrounding villages — at your kitchen table, on your schedule.
Paddock Wood is a growing commuter town on the Tonbridge–Ashford railway line, surrounded by hop-growing villages of the north Weald. From my base I regularly visit clients in Yalding, Horsmonden, Brenchley, and Five Oak Green. The signing visit is included in the quoted price wherever you are on that list — there's no extra travel charge for the smaller villages.
I'm Emma Wrigley — a law graduate with over 20 years in the legal sector — and I set up Kent Legacy Planning because estate planning should fit around your life, not the other way around. The conversations I have with clients happen mostly on the phone, at whatever time of day suits you, and the signing happens over a cup of tea at your own kitchen table — evenings and weekends if that's what works, with no office visits and no rushed appointments.
Services available in Paddock Wood
Every fee is quoted in writing before you commit, and will and LPA prices include a signing visit to your home in Paddock Wood or the surrounding villages.
Wills & related documents
Will Writing
From £225
A will drafted from scratch for your circumstances, signed and witnessed properly at your own kitchen table.
Read more →Mirror Wills for Couples
£400 per couple
A coordinated pair of wills for a couple whose wishes broadly match, drafted together so they agree with each other.
Read more →Trust Wills
Price on consultation
Ringfence your share of the family home so your partner can go on living there and your children still inherit it.
Read more →Letter of Wishes
£35 with a will / £85 standalone
The personal guidance that sits alongside your will — funeral preferences, bequests, and notes for guardians.
Read more →Will Review
£95
A read-through of the will you already have, whoever wrote it, and an honest answer on whether it still works.
Read more →Codicils
From £125
A signed, witnessed addition to an existing will, where the change is straightforward enough not to need a new one.
Read more →Powers of attorney & health decisions
Lasting Powers of Attorney
From £275 (plus OPG fees)
Let people you trust make health or financial decisions for you if you ever can't make them yourself.
Read more →LPA Reviews & Revocations
From £95
Check, change or revoke a registered LPA that no longer says what you need it to say.
Read more →General Power of Attorney
From £195
Financial authority for someone who has capacity now — a spell abroad, a stay in hospital, a property sale.
Read more →Advance Decision (Living Will)
£195 one person / £300 per couple
A written, legally binding refusal of specified medical treatment, so your wishes are known if you cannot say them.
Read more →Probate & estate administration
Executor & Estate Review
£195
What the will means, what you actually have to do, and whether a grant of probate is needed at all.
Read more →Estate Administration Support
Quoted for the work agreed
Help with as much or as little of an administration you're running yourself.
Read more →Comprehensive Estate Administration
From £2,500
Everything from registering the death to distributing the estate, apart from the Grant application, which stays with the executor.
Read more →Other documents
A recent client near Paddock Wood
“Emma came out to us in Brenchley one evening after the children were in bed and walked us both through mirror wills and guardianship in plain English. She was patient, thorough, and made what felt like a daunting conversation surprisingly straightforward over a pot of tea.”
Mirror Wills for Paddock Wood couples and families
For young families across Paddock Wood, Yalding, Horsmonden and the surrounding villages, a pair of mirror wills is usually the single most important piece of paperwork standing between today and a worst-case scenario most of us would rather not think about. The town’s demographic is unmistakable from the school run: commuting couples in their thirties and forties, one or both parents travelling into London or Tonbridge, a mortgage on a Victorian terrace or a newer build off the Maidstone Road, and one or two children still at primary age.
Mirror wills are two coordinated wills — one for each partner — that mirror each other’s wishes. In most cases everything passes to the surviving partner, and then on to the children once both parents have gone. The detail that matters more than the headline structure is what happens to the children themselves. Your will is the legal place to appoint guardians, and without that appointment, the decision falls to the courts. For most of my Paddock Wood clients, getting that clause right is the reason they finally pick up the phone.
- Couples with young children who want to name guardians and trustees, and ringfence assets in trust until the children reach an age you choose.
- Couples with a London-commuting partner who travel daily and want to plan for the small-but-real scenario of an accident affecting both of you.
- Blended families and second marriages, where each partner wants to be sure their own children inherit their share of the estate, not just default to the surviving spouse.
Mirror wills are quoted as a single fixed fee for the couple, which covers a free initial phone call, a questionnaire and follow-up calls for your instructions, two coordinated wills carefully drafted around your circumstances, and a signing appointment at your kitchen table with proper witnessing. Because both wills come out of one set of instructions, the pair costs less than commissioning two separate wills — and, more to the point, the two documents dovetail instead of contradicting each other. The signing visit and the travel out to any of the villages in the Paddock Wood catchment are part of that price rather than added to it. Letters of wishes — the place to record more personal guidance for guardians and executors, including funeral preferences and messages to your children — are included free with every will. You’ll have the exact figure before you commit to anything, and the first phone conversation is always at no cost.
Questions from Paddock Wood clients
Which villages around Paddock Wood do you cover?
I cover Paddock Wood itself along with Yalding, Horsmonden, Brenchley and Five Oak Green — the hop-growing villages that look to Paddock Wood as their nearest population centre. The signing visit to any of these is included in the quoted price; there's no extra charge for the smaller villages or for travel time. If you're in a hamlet I haven't named here but you think of Paddock Wood as your local town, please ask — the catchment lines are practical rather than rigid and I'd rather come to you than have you drive.
We're a young family with a mortgage — why do we need mirror wills now?
Mirror wills matter most when there are young children involved, because the will is where you appoint legal guardians. Without one, that decision falls to the courts. Paddock Wood is full of commuting couples in their thirties and forties, often with one partner travelling daily to London — exactly the demographic where something happening to both parents is the unthinkable but important scenario to plan for. A pair of mirror wills, drafted together from one set of instructions, covers both of you, names guardians, ringfences assets for the children until an age you choose, and appoints executors you trust — and I'll give you a fixed quote for the pair before you commit to anything.
Do you offer evening or weekend appointments in Paddock Wood?
Yes — I work seven days a week and the bulk of my Paddock Wood appointments are evenings and weekends, because most of my clients here are working couples with school-age children. There's no extra charge for out-of-hours visits. A typical pattern is a phone call one evening once the children have settled, the questionnaire filled in over the following week, and then a signing appointment at the kitchen table a fortnight or so later when the drafts have been read and approved. If a daytime visit suits you better that's no problem either — I'll work around whatever fits your week.
How do guardianship clauses actually work if something happened to both of us?
Inside your will you name one or more people as guardians for any children under 18. If both parents died, those guardians would step into the day-to-day parental role. The will sits alongside a trust — usually until the children reach 18, 21 or 25, depending on what you decide — so the money is held and managed by trustees for the children's benefit rather than handed over as a lump sum. Guardians and trustees can be the same people or different; many couples around Paddock Wood prefer to separate the two so that one person isn't carrying every decision alone.
I'm helping my parents in Yalding or Horsmonden organise their affairs — can you visit them?
Of course — quite a lot of my Paddock Wood work begins with an adult child getting in touch on a parent's behalf. The questions come on paper and over the phone, so there's no office appointment for them to manage, and I bring the documents out to Yalding, Horsmonden or anywhere in the catchment to be signed. Family members are very welcome to be present if that helps. For older clients I'll always take time to make sure they understand each document and are making decisions freely, and I'll speak to them on their own at some point so that's properly evidenced.
What does it cost to get everything sorted in one go?
Most couples choose the Complete Peace of Mind Package — mirror wills, both types of LPA for both partners, and letters of wishes. That's six professionally drafted documents in one process, and it works out cheaper than arranging each piece separately. I'll give you the exact figure on our first phone call, and OPG registration fees are payable separately to the government.